Marketing in the News

 Oatly Plant Based Milk

The article I chose this week was from the brand Oatly, which is a brand that produces oat milk. I was interested in this ad because of the puppets, as I thought they were cute. But I also like oat milk and use it regularly. 

Here is the article I read that discussed the ad. The article summarizes the set of ads and shares what the ads were depicting. The ads show that milk was a bad influence on the main Oatly character (Norm) through showing scenes where Al (the milk character) was encouraging Norm to smoke, drink, and party. The three main takeaways are that: 

1. Milk is a bad choice for people (and is unhealthy)

2. Oatly Oat milk is for people wanting to do the right thing for the planet and their body

3. Oatly isn't just for hipsters, it's for everyone

The value proposition of Oatly revolves around the premise of being healthy and contributing positively to the environment. On their website they say that they provide nutritious oat based milk for their consumers, and they can be proud that they chose to drink Oatly because their packaging and manufacturing methods have a positive impact on the environment.

The marketing relevance of this article is that Oatly is trying to reach out to people to expand their market by showing that everyone is able to drink it. This is done by showing many different characters becoming friends with Norm in the puppet show. This is a bold approach. The puppet show isn't something that most ads use, so it definitely stands out to people. Also, the ads are a little on the long side, ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes long. There are a series of 5 of these puppet show ads. So in order to get the full message of these ads, you'd have to watch all 5 of them. The company is trying to overcome the stigmas of people who drink oat milk-like vegetarians and hipsters. So in this ad they are trying to accomplish their goal of showing that everyone can drink their oat milk, and that you don't have to be a hipster or vegetarian to do so. 

Their job is made more difficult by stigmas that people hold, so they are trying to overcome that. There are many other plant based milk companies like Silk and Planet Oat. They have a better reputations, and are more focused on the environment and being organic than Oatly is. Oatly is also being boycotted due to their investors' beliefs. 

The marketing approach is new for today because most companies aren't doing puppet show ads. Most ads today include celebrity endorsements and are much shorter than the Oatly ads. This appealed to their buyer persona as their buyer persona are people who are different and going against what's considered normal, as they have values that pertain heavily to the environment. 

I think this was a good choice as it is very different than what is currently out there, and I think Simon Sinek would say that it's remarkable. It stands out because it's a story and it encourages people to remember their ad. It also humanizes their brand and their mission. If I were in the marketing department I would touch on why Oatly was founded, as it could connect the audience more towards their mission. 

I learned that playing it safe with ads isn't necessarily the best approach, as the differences in ads is what makes them memorable.